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MacBook Air With OLED Display is Still Years Away

Rather than thinking about OLED, I think it best to think that XDR is a pro feature.

High dynamic range is restricted to Pro products. Within XDR, there is a hierarchy.

Best is Ultra Retina XDR, then Super Retina XDR, then Liquid Retina XDR.
Below XDR is standard dynamic range, you have Liquid Retina (no XDR), etc.

The MacBook Pro has a Liquid Retina XDR display whether you need it or not, you have to pay for it, but the MacBook Air doesn't and won't.

XDR availability is a dividing line. Studio XDR vs. regular Studio displays.

iPad Pro range (Ultra Retina XDR & Liquid Retina XDR) vs. regular iPads, e.g. Air (Liquid Retina - no XDR).
Ultra Retina = Tandem OLED won't come to the non-Pro range.

But with iPhones, all current ones back to iPhone 12 have OLED XDR displays (Super Retina XDR). iPhone cameras can record HDR content, pictures and movies. But Ultra Retina is not yet on the iPhone line, pro or not. Maybe later this year.

So I guess the MacBook Pro new tier could get the Super Retina XDR or the top-end Ultra Retina XDR. The funny thing to me is that HDR photos do stand out on a browser, mostly only when I have the same photo open on a regular display vs. an XDR display. Two HDR example here:
https://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/9338251157/B0000627.jpeg
https://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/9338251157/x2d_ii_red_vintage_car.jpeg
If it doesn't look truly amazing to you, especially the first picture - it's not subtle, you're probably not on a XDR display.
The 2nd picture is more subtle.

Then you have to ask yourself, do you really need it?
 
turbineseaplane said:
This is so ridiculous.

It doesn't need a whole bunch of "development" or "figuring it out" or "more time to mature" -- none of that.

Lenovo, this very moment, sells a whole range of machines with the exact 15.3" OLED panel that would be perfect in an MBA.

I myself am sitting, typing this, in front of a $250 16" 3K 120HZ OLED portable monitor whose panel would also be perfect here.

It's breathtaking, with per pixel lighting, perfect blacks, "ProMotion" ... just the bees knees.

There's just no good reason for any of this to be taking years and years on Apples part.

How about offering screen options as a BTO choice?
Click to expand...
Can it do 1000 nits like the MBP? How thick is it? How much power does it require? Will there be any image retention over a 6-7 year period? How color accurate is it? How is the panel uniformity across individual batches?

Stuff that does needs to be figured out before a major switch in technologies.

Typing this in front of my Benq OLED monitor with minor image retention after 3 years.
 
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deevey said:
Can it do 1000 nits like the MBP?
Click to expand...

It doesn't need to.
This is for the MacBook Air

deevey said:
How color accurate is it?
Click to expand...

100% of P3
Also overkill for the MBA

deevey said:
Will there be any image retention over a 6-7 year period?
Click to expand...

I personally don't care about this, and I doubt Apple will.
Is anyone worried about ... "anything at all" about 2019 Macbooks right now? (7 years old)
Especially non Pro models.

They can use it all to sell more AC+ subs that won't get used and just be pure profit.
 
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Apple brought OLED to the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models in 2024, introducing the first larger-sized OLED screens. The iPhone and Apple Watch have used OLED for years, but it is more complicated with bigger displays.
Click to expand...

Then how in the world does LG, Samsung etc. offer huge OLED TVs?
 
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turbineseaplane said:
Lenovo, this very moment, sells a whole range of machines with the exact 15.3" OLED panel that would be perfect in an MBA.
Click to expand...
My Windows machine is a Lenovo IdeaPad Pro5 with a 14" 2880x1800 120Hz OLED display. Side by side with my MBA M2, it is a much better experience, and the purchase price is virtually the same.

The mental gymnastics of justifying why Apple still doesn't use them in their laptops is funny.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple is planning to launch a MacBook Air with an OLED display, but it won't come for several years after the MacBook Pro is updated with OLED screen technology.

macbook-air-cyber.jpg

We're not going to see an OLED MacBook Air until at least 2028, according to Bloomberg. Large, high-quality OLED displays are expensive, and it will take some time for the technology to come down in price enough that it can be used in Apple's midrange devices.

Apple brought OLED to the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models in 2024, introducing the first larger-sized OLED screens. The iPhone and Apple Watch have used OLED for years, but it is more complicated with bigger displays. Apple wants to transition its flagship Mac and iPad models to OLED, with OLED eventually used across all product lines.

OLED displays have better contrast than the LCD and mini-LED displays that Apple is using for current Macs, providing richer colors and deeper blacks. OLED also supports wider viewing angles and is often more power efficient because black pixels don't light up.

A MacBook Pro with a touchscreen OLED display is in development, and rumors suggest that we're going to get it as soon as late 2026, though Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today that we could be waiting until early 2027.

Kuo also said that we won't see an OLED MacBook Air until 2028 or 2029, so the MacBook Air will likely continue to use LCD display technology until then. It's possible Apple could do an interim mini-LED update, but there are no rumors suggesting that's the case yet.

Article Link: MacBook Air With OLED Display is Still Years Away
Click to expand...
Perfectly fine with the screen on MacBook Pro… nobody asked oled… give the MacBook Pro screen to the air that’s it…
 
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BigDO said:
My Windows machine is a Lenovo IdeaPad Pro5 with a 14" 2880x1800 120Hz OLED display. Side by side with my MBA M2, it is a much better experience, and the purchase price is virtually the same.

The mental gymnastics of justifying why Apple still doesn't use them in their laptops is funny.
Click to expand...

It's funny, and also just flat out infuriating.

There is zero good reason to not have these on MBAs, right now, at least as some kind of option.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
16" is sold out at moment on the Jungle Site, but the 14" is in stock and otherwise identical, save for the size.

Here's a product shot I saved

View attachment 2612524
Click to expand...
Actually found this:

www.amazon.com

UPERFECT OLED Portable Monitor 16", 3K 2880x1800 | 120Hz | 0.1ms Portable Gaming Monitor, 500 Nits |100% DCI-P3 | 100000:1 Contrast | Ultra-Slim Design for Laptop Mini PC Phone Game Consoles Ucolor O2

UPERFECT OLED Portable Monitor 16", 3K 2880x1800 | 120Hz | 0.1ms Portable Gaming Monitor, 500 Nits |100% DCI-P3 | 100000:1 Contrast | Ultra-Slim Design for Laptop Mini PC Phone Game Consoles Ucolor O2
www.amazon.com

Thanks!
 
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BigDO said:
My Windows machine is a Lenovo IdeaPad Pro5 with a 14" 2880x1800 120Hz OLED display. Side by side with my MBA M2, it is a much better experience, and the purchase price is virtually the same.

The mental gymnastics of justifying why Apple still doesn't use them in their laptops is funny.
Click to expand...
It's so you end up doing mental gymnastics to justify buying a $5,000 laptop.
 
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Thisismattwade said:
Actually found this:

www.amazon.com

UPERFECT OLED Portable Monitor 16", 3K 2880x1800 | 120Hz | 0.1ms Portable Gaming Monitor, 500 Nits |100% DCI-P3 | 100000:1 Contrast | Ultra-Slim Design for Laptop Mini PC Phone Game Consoles Ucolor O2

UPERFECT OLED Portable Monitor 16", 3K 2880x1800 | 120Hz | 0.1ms Portable Gaming Monitor, 500 Nits |100% DCI-P3 | 100000:1 Contrast | Ultra-Slim Design for Laptop Mini PC Phone Game Consoles Ucolor O2
www.amazon.com

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Can vouch ... the thing is incredible.

It even has 3 inputs ... that's 2 more than the XDR 🤣
 
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Would love OLED but I don't see it happening on the Air's anytime soon. The subpixel layout and text clarity issues with the "cheaper" OLED panels cost appropriate for a mid tier device like the Air, don't meet Apple's high "retina" sharpness, brightness and text clarity standards. I think Apple figured out the sub-pixel issues on the iPad Pro Tandem OLED panels but those are costly. They would drive up the cost of the AIR substantially. Just this year, WOLED and QD-OLED will start transitioning to RGB Stripe sub-pixel layout which should address a lot of this but I'm sure it's a premium, low yield panel as well and will take years to trickle down to mid tier. I would take ProMotion on its current IPS panel. And the mini led's from the Pro's would be amazing on an Air. But I don't think Apple has figured out how to include ProMotion on a thin device like the Air without severely impacting year over year battery range specs.
 
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Anyone who loves OLED can get it _today_ with a Mac Mini or Studio + OLED monitor :^) Or a MacBook with external OLED monitor.
 
BeatsByTim said:
Man, do you guys remember those awful TN-panel macbook airs from like a decade ago?
Click to expand...
No, but I used to own one of these back in the 90s:

hqdefault-2481980763.jpg

Had a TN greyscale display with 16 shades of grey and you had to fiddle with the contrast often. And you had to hold your head in a certain spot.

And before that I had this mono green 9" monitor :^)

apple2c.big-3981160526.jpg


So by comparison my M1 Air IPS panel is amazeballs.
 
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